a flash of red

1. Chapter 1

The girl stood at the edge of the cliff, only her subconscious knowing what she really wanted. She craved danger; she craved death, she craved the sweet relief of her hallucinations. The bittersweet sensation of just hearing his voice echo in her head was all that kept her sane through those empty six months. Or maybe insane was the better fit. She had reasons to live, but the pain that made her want death was intensifying by the second, and suddenly it outweighed her will to survive. The jump would put her in the freezing cold water, cold like the feel of his skin on hers, but also cold like his gaze the day he left. Icy and bitter, tearing through her heart, mind, body, and soul like her fading memories had done every hour, minute, and second since he left. Death would hurt Charlie, Renee, Jacob, but it wouldn’t bother the one she cared most about. She wanted the pain; it was far, far, better than nothing. His voice, the cold, death, all of it was bittersweet.

The woman hid from her target, simply sitting a couple feet below the water’s surface. She watched as the girl stood quietly, just looking out over the water. Maybe having second thoughts about the jump, but she seemed to be contemplating something deeper. She took a step closer to the edge, stopped, and smiled. She nodded, shook her head, frowned, and smiled again. Her eyes were sealed shut, and she was like a schizophrenic having a frightening conversation with the voices in her head. The woman wondered what was happening; why the pack of puppies wasn’t here, surrounding the girl, and wondering what was driving the girl to jump off a cliff. The little pet couldn’t know real sorrow; couldn’t know the pain of losing your mate, your one true love. She was just a human, part of a herd of cattle. The strength of her feelings, her mind, could never compare to that of a vampire. She could, however, wreak havoc, bringing the death of the invincible James, far more important to the world than an incompetent, pathetic, completely normal teenager. By simply getting involved with vampires, all of those so much greater and powerful than her, that little girl was begging for death.

As she rolled onto the balls of her feet and prepared for the jump, wishes and daydreams of the release of death began to seep into her conscious thought. This pain would only be temporary, unlike everything else she was experiencing. She could only hope that maybe, just maybe, he’d feel something. But at the same time, she would be happy if he was happy. Or at least suffer through it. Or come to this. She knew he didn’t care, but relished in her imagination, the one place that she could be with him. He told her to stop, but she couldn’t. If she stopped, he would go away. The closer she came to jumping, the more she heard him. And when she started to bend her knees, he started yelling at her. She smiled as she sprung forward and fell; she screamed with him; he was shrieking in terror. As she hit the water, he began barking orders; stay close to the surface; swim parallel to the shore to break free from the current. She ignored all of it, just staying still and numb, sinking further and further down. As she slipped out of consciousness, she could see his face. It was image her mind had been saving for her final moments; it would hurt too badly if she lived after seeing it. His perfect face was purely sweet, and the bitterness of death paled completely in its shadow.

The redhead just didn’t understand; she watched as the girl jumped off a cliff, and instead of struggling to the surface; swimming to the shore, she just sank, motionless the entire way down. It seemed like the girl was happy to drown; she smiled the entire time, before she lost consciousness at least. But the woman couldn’t have it that way; the girl couldn’t die that easily. Not of her own will. She needed to feel the pain; have some sort of understanding of the pain she caused. And the woman began to swim, speeding through the water without looking back. Swimming deeper, reaching out to grab the wimpy little girl. The one that ruined her life. She snatched her wrist, not being careful with it at all. It snapped, audibly, and she didn’t care. The girl wouldn’t notice it while she was unconscious; she couldn’t notice anything, but when she woke up, she’d feel pain before the redhead could really start it. Ideas were pouring into her head as to how to go about it, but the only finalized plan was to take her blood. It would hurt the girl, and her little vampire boyfriend would be so upset, because all he wanted was her blood. She couldn’t blame him; her blood was particularly appetizing. But she had to decide what to do before killing her; death wasn’t enough. She had to make her suffer, or else she hadn’t done her job.

The redhead pulled the brunette girl out of the water, not caring about being gentle with the little human. The girl already had a broken wrist, her lungs were filled with water and exhausted, and bruises covering every inch of her skin. As far as Victoria was concerned, that was a good thing. She had a game plan for how to make Bella suffer most, and after seeing her on the cliff, she knew it would work. Once she and James lost their happily ever after, Victoria was determined to ruin Edward’s and Bella’s. Mostly Bella’s, though. The little human had triumphed above James; she survived, and he didn’t. As they reached the shore, Bella’s heartbeat was slowing, but her body was fighting for life. She was still unconscious.

Victoria threw the girl on a large rock to start beating the water out of her. She resisted her thirst as the girl began coughing up small bits of blood with the water, though the pain in her throat was terrible. As Bella finally began to reach consciousness, Victoria grabbed her and threw her over her trouble as she made a run for it. The wolves would be back soon, and she wouldn’t let them stop her.

As soon as Bella opened her eyes and saw the red hair, she knew what was happening, and she knew that pain was coming soon. Her chest and throat already ached from coughing, but she knew better than to open her mouth to complain or to cough any more. Her wrist was hurting; she figured Victoria must have broken it while she was still unconscious. The danger was immediate, and she could only hope that thirst would grab hold of Victoria before things could get too bad. Edward’s voice was faint in her head; but he was blaming himself, not yelling at Bella. She closed her eyes; the speed was making her nauseous. Her heart ached; the hole was gaping and bigger than ever; she could barely breathe from the pain. It was far worse than anything Victoria could ever do to her and that was a slight comfort. Victoria couldn’t win.

The miles passed by with the seconds until they crossed the border into Canada. Bella was fully conscious, and Victoria threw her down on the ground. The girl screamed in agony as she landed on her broken wrist, and the woman laughed at her pain. She hadn’t even started yet. She kicked her, threw rocks at her, tossed her around, laughing at every wince and scream. She called her worthless, said it was no wonder that Edward left her. Said she deserved this pain, that she was a disgrace. It had been hours of this, and cuts and bruises covered the human girl’s skin. Nearly every bone in her body was broken, and she was on the brink of losing consciousness. Victoria was getting a release from all of it, but she wasn’t done yet. She left the girl for a moment and tried hunting animals like those wimpy Cullens, and while it was not particularly appetizing she was slightly less thirsty than before, and ready to make the next step.

Bella was in pain, and Victoria’s vicious words had gotten to her. The hole was ripping through her, tearing through the cuts and bruises, knocking them like a tsunami. All she could feel was pain; all around her, throughout her, and as Victoria approached her again, she knew what was going to happen, and she knew it would be worse. She could only hope that as she screamed, Victoria would answer her pleas and just end it.

Victoria’s red eyes had an evil glint to them; she had imagined this moment almost as many times as she had imagined Bella’s death. She stepped forward and took a deep breath, taking in the floral scent. She kicked her one more time, listening to her scream as each broken bone in each of her legs was nudged. One more step forward, and she went down on her knees. “You deserve this,” she whispered into Bella’s ear, and then she bit down on her neck, very careful to keep the blood out of her mouth. It was hard, but she pulled away and watched as Bella screamed and writhed in pain. And the writhing only worsened the pain; it hurt the breaks and bruises and the fire spread further through her. And she begged and begged for two and a half days before Victoria finally answered her prayers.